Mass Effect 2 - United We Stand
by Demod20
Summary: Celes S. Shepard has defeated the Reapers during the Battle of the Citadel. Even now, the sapient machine race enacts a plan for revenge against the galaxy's greatest hero, and all of mankind. Shepard must now band together a stronger team than before to face her newest challenge. All must stand United, less they fall dived as more victims of the sapient machines. (F-Shep/Kaidan)


I - The End Is Just The Beginning

* * *

_Space, the last frontier. _

_It was said that ages ago, when Earth finally achieved space flight, that the outer reaches of the heavens was the last unmapped place yet touched by intelligent life. When humanity had discovered the data cache on Mars, the Systems Alliance was founded to become a protectorate of the planet and continue mapping out space from Sol to beyond. It was under a decade that mankind's curiosity earned the observing ire of an old spacefaring race; the turians. Months of tense, brutal warfare was waged by the alien creatures and Shanxi was occupied, only driven out after the 2nd Fleet's arrival. _

_Despite a potential interstellar war could take place the Council stepped in and, for the moment, humanity was granted a place among the greater galactic theater. But was it really sincere? Humanity was always seen as the young upstarts among ancient beings who've long since accepted their place in the hierarchy of the cosmic order, with the three Council races always prevailing over the rest no matter economic power, political influence or military might being in consideration. Was this just but a sense of insurance for a long game, manipulating humanity's boundless potential to advance far more quickly than its alien peers for their own benefit? Possible. _

_One thing was clear, was that the publicly ignored manifesto written all those years ago hasn't left everyone's mind, no matter what the media tries to do to curb it. Humanity is always treated as lower class, no matter how strong, intelligent or gifted it proves itself to be. From that bias, the false pleasantries will be met with a closed fist and a primed trigger, waiting for the inevitable to transpire should a status quo be shaken on a galactic scale. _

_That's when_ she _appeared. _

_Commander Celes S. Shepard, a decorated hero, hailing from her participation in the Skyllian Blitz. Having come from a background of constant motion across the stars thanks to having parents being in the navy it was inevitable that this path led her to becoming Earth's chosen candidate; the one that'd become Humanity's first Spectre._

_Her efforts to prove Saren Arterius' guilt led her to help perform many missions on behalf of the Systems Alliance, the Council and various quests of seeming no relation to any faction or person of political interest. In a matter of months, Shepard became an iconic representation of the best of humanity as a species and what they can ultimately become should they be given the chance. It was through this woman's perseverance that she launched a rogue assault against the Council's wishes to Ilos, where she stopped Saren completely._

_More still, she provided an irrefutable proof through character witness, that the Reapers exist. Though on the public extranet, this wouldn't be acknowledged yet until a course of action could be agreed upon. However, thanks to Udina's hounding, they can't backslide out of the directive to prepare for an impending threat. For the moment, they will bide their time till a proper consensus can be made on what would help benefit the Milky Way as a whole for this phantom menace looming on the horizon._

_So, for the moment, the Council and humanity has yet to completely act upon Shepard's call to arms. There's still so much that the galaxy doesn't know about the Reapers. Winning battles is far easier than persuading the hearts and minds of all species that inhabit Council Space. That is why she needs the right kind of help._

_That is why Commander Shepard needs Cerberus._

* * *

A dying star orbits his vista.

In the peerless black floored room of the office sat a man on an angular metal seat. He wasn't observing the slow lunar death in his quarters' view. No, his eyes were everywhere else. Floating holo charts of various bits of information covered his scope of vision, though he didn't seem to give any visual cue that it was a gross amount of data. Blue eyes of a near digital design looked calmly from one floating chart to another report, taking the occasional swig of alcohol present on one of his chair's armrests. In his spare hand he held what was one of several cigarettes he consumed, currently taking an inhale for a few seconds before exhaling in front of his holo-field gaze. The grey haired man with crow's feet beneath his eyes showed an aged cagey expression that belied the cunning he hid behind the masked look he always had when dozens of things were on his mind.

Not far away, as if daringly staring at the star he was currently ignoring, was his most trusted agent. Ebony hair of medium length lied over a white uniform, with complementary black sleeves that moved up from one fingertips over the shoulders and around the collar, a perfect contrast that was mimicked by the knee high heeled boots. The voluptuous woman was shaped in a way that any man -perhaps even some women- would say was comparable if not superior to most models back on Earth. Not a single ounce of her appearance was wasted, as even her lithe shaped arms and narrow waist was comprised of toned muscle, honed by training and enhanced by genes none could obtain through favorable credentials.

The pair had worked together for awhile. Boss and subordinate. Superior and second in command. Through the merit of her achievements was she allowed such tangible access to his personal quarters. Paranoia born from the position of fear and respect, the reclusive leader of Cerberus was many things if not cautious. Her proximity to him showed not just trust but utter confidence in her abilities that he'd speak to her freely as much as she would to him.

Which is why, when she eventually spoke, he took her words thoughtfully and not discount anything she spoke of.

"Shepard has done so much for humanity, more than we could've hoped for," She said, placing a hand on her hip, swaying to the side as she continued to stare out into the star-filled expanse of the vacuum beyond the glass. "Saving the Citadel, even protecting the Council at the cost of human lives has gained us nothing but praise and respect of the galactic community. _And still its not enough_."

He heard emphasis on that last sentence, the periphery of his augmented vision catching the fact she turned momentarily to look at him when she said those five simple words. The cigarette he idly held began to tap on the armrest, his gaze returning to one of the screens ahead of him. The information was dismissed, right before he made a omni-tool adjustment on his chair to bring up the next display.

"Commander Shepard has earned humanity a spot on the Council, and their eternal gratitude, but she still remains our best chance," He replied, finally taking the time to retort in what he felt was a meaningful way to his lieutenant.

"But the Council is sending her to fight Geth. _Geth!_" The generously proportioned woman exclaimed, raising her voice for the second iteration of the once boogieman of the Traverse. She stalked one foot ahead of the other, each measured step bringing her form closer to the biggest advocate of humanity's advancement and preservation. Her fair complexion was shown more distinctly up close, peach colored lips strewn into a grimace as her eyes had a cold fury expressed through her vivid sky blue eyes looking ahead with apparent frustration. "We both know who the real threat is. The Reapers are still out there!"

An assistant -one of a handful that were constantly screened and checked for security reasons- came up to his right and handed him a holo-pad that he raised a hand expectantly to receive it. Casting a cursory glance on the pad as his second in command continued to vent her frustrations verbally, he'd make a nod and hand the device back to his employee. Silently leaving in an automatic motion, the leader took a timely drag on his cigarette before answering her prompt declaration.

"And it's up to _us_ to stop them," He exhaled, tapping his cigarette as an afterthought on his chair's armrest.

"The Council will never accept our help," She argued, swaying back and forth in front of him in an impatient pacing manner. "They'll never trust Cerberus. Even after all that humanity has accomplished."

Stopping short, she turned to look at the orange-bright horizon, a tinge of blue surrounding the astral object in the sea of black outside of the office.

"But Shepard? They'd follow her. She's a hero, a bloody icon," She paused, reflecting the latter statement of her, as if the adjectives were bothering her on a personal level. Quick as it came, the moment left as she made a poignant argument to the aforementioned Commander's elevated status. "But she's just one woman. If we lose her, humanity won't be far behind."

Tapping the cigarette back into the tray, joined by several others he's used to completion earlier, he looked ahead at the woman with his full attention. What he'd choose to say will stick into her like nothing else before.

"Then see to it that we don't lose her."

* * *

_This was getting old. _

Shepard could tell that, at this point, the Council was just pulling on straws in an effort to convince themselves the attack on the Citadel didn't happen. It's been a full month since the attack and a great deal of damage had yet to be repaired, leaving many to still blame the Geth since they were the predominant bulk of the fleet that ambushed the Citadel Fleet. Sovereign's ultimate destruction was a curse in disguise, as the remnants of its hulking bulk was scattered and very little of it was salvageable enough to verify the Reaper threat proper to the galactic community as a whole. While the Councilors trust her, they themselves haven't decided what to do to prepare for a phantom enemy that has yet to show itself.

Thus, after a brief reprieve, Shepard has been sent on a number of what she'd like to call 'Ceremonial Missions'. They didn't mean anything in the long run, just that it shows the First Human Spectre was still on active duty and keeping the galaxy safe. She kept her crew, just as before, but that didn't mean they'd keep staying alongside her indefinitely. All of the people that were still present in the SSV Normandy from after she became inaugurated as a Spectre till after the Battle of the Citadel, were present, but her alien guests were all but temporary.

The belly of the ship will become a lot quieter when they finally leave. Looking at the mirror propped up near the corner of the holo-screen of the desk, she stared at her reflection in contemplation. Her unique silver discs for eyes that complemented her platinum hair and fair pigmented skin shined in the illumination of the holographic projection of the digital model adjoined to the furniture's top. She knew, even back in N7 training, that she was something of a stand-out thanks to her appearance, and her attitude extending with her exemplary performance only help exaggerate her looks. By the time she met her first aliens, she thought herself an oddity among her peers. With them leaving, she'd lose that camaraderie of weirdness she both expected and perhaps enjoyed to a degree.

"Commander?" A voice filled the near dead quiet of her personal quarters. Looking up from her desk, she turned to see her closest friend and beloved, Kaidan Alenko. The slick-backed deep auburn haired man with a clean shaven face with thick brows and stunning eyes, the L2 Biotic always had a way to bring renewal into Shepard's life. Sensing her quietness and lack of automatic response to his entry, he couldn't help but falter in his approach, raising a thumb to point over his shoulder with an intuitive offer. "Is this a bad time?"

"N-No," Shepard stuttered, feeling warmth rise to the front of her face as she attempted to compose herself. Standing up from her desk to be at face level with the man, she couldn't help but reminded how tall he was. Despite her above-average height, she was still a few inches beneath his solid six foot stature.

"With all due respect, Shepard," Alenko spoke in a level quiet tone, dropping the formal pretense of his initial entry due to their isolation within her quarters. "It seems to me that you've got your head up in the clouds. It can't be about this mission the Council's got us errand running for them?"

"Well," She rolled her eyes, arming her face with a bit of a smirk as she gesticulated her words with a wave of her hands. "I get the feeling most of my missions for the Council from this point on are going to be pretty tame in comparison to Saren."

"I can only hope we get that bored," He quipped with a chuckle.

"Yeah," She answered dully, finally hooking her thumbs into the crook of her uniform's belt. Looking thoughtfully at him, she inhaled through her nostrils and exhaled in a raspberry. "Quiet."

"Pardon?"

"It's going to be quiet, when they leave, you know?" Shepard intoned with an angled cock of her head. "Wrex, Tali, Liara, and Garrus? They kind've livened up the ship, you know? It's going to be hard for me to see them go when they eventually do."

Chuckling in agreement, the Staff Lieutenant raised a hand in addendum to his response, "Well if you want to call in a favor from the Council, you can instate them as permanent members of the crew if you want."

"As fun as it'd be to see the looks on their faces about that on the holo-com," She trailed off with a grin, shaking her head in denial after the fact. "But no, seriously, I just realized how much I'm going to miss the old crew. Most of them got responsibilities and goals. Hell, Tali's still staying with us even after the data on the Geth I gave her for her Pilgrimage."

"I think you're missing something, Shepard," Alenko corrected her, his face construed into an emotion she could tell he was invoking a sense of seriousness to his phrasing. "They aren't putting off their plans because of obligations to the Normandy or to keep everyone happy. They're here because you're in charge and they believe in you. No one else I know can command respect in so many species that are so alien to us without getting caught up in race, politics or some bullshit grudge thousands of years in the making. For all you know, they may be a part of the crew for another year, maybe even ten, before they're finally content. So don't expect anyone under your command to say goodbye just yet, Celes."

Shepard couldn't help but feel a sense of pride surge in her chest. She knew she should've had more faith in her companions who charged into the thickest of situations that they weren't going to walk away so easily. Even if they had goals that they reminded her of on more than one occasion, they weren't just about to drop everything and leave so soon after Sovereign and Saren's defeat. There was probably a lot more that they wanted to see Shepard do and help her do in the grand scheme of time that's yet to elapse.

Smiling a bit wryly, she arched a brow and placed hands on her hips with surly confidence, "Why Kaidan, are you sure you're not trying to just tell me 'everything's going to be alright' just to make me feel better?"

"Only if you ask me to," He responded with a smirk. "_Ma'am_."

"Now what did I tell you about calling me that in private?" Celes coyly asked, her face breaching the distance between his in a heartbeat. A passion filled the air as breaths were exchanged, uniformed bodies rustled and the sounds became a typical sign that their love hadn't faltered. No matter the circumstance, nothing could force them apart.

The sudden sounds of the Normandy's alarms, however, blared in the background informed the pair something was wrong. Their bodies separated as the ship veered and suddenly a violent shudder quaked within the metal hull. Lights flickered, screams and shouts sounded in the distance. As they stumbled, Shepard and Alenko caught each other from meeting the floor, their eyes meeting in the space between them.

***Emergency! Emergency! Normandy under fire! Recommend swift evacuation of all personnel!***

"What the Hell?!" Kaidan exclaimed with a turn of his head.

"We're under attack," Shepard muttered, her body already swiftly going to the compact closet holding multiple suits of armor inside. Grasping her N7 emblazoned Onyx Armor, she put on within a matter of seconds as her teaching had dictated. In the middle of placing a gauntlet in hand, she handed one of her spare armors to him, not bothering to look at the black plated, crimson colored Colossus Medium armor. Hearing the rustle of his own quick equipment, she swiftly placed the helmet under one arm and ran out of her quarters, the door opening automatically shortly before the entire second floor of the ship became caked in red emergency lighting.

"Shepard!" She heard someone else cry out behind her, but she didn't turn to address the voice. She was too busy marching past the sleeping capsules to arm the emergency beacon. Once there, the faint whooshing of air being siphoned off from the deck could be felt from the shuddering ship. Flames erupted from a cacophony of explosions, her periphery becoming a sea of orange-red. Her dominant was a slew of rapid gestures to prime the emergency beacon, finally acknowledging the voice as it repeated her name once more. "Shepard!"

Placing the helmet over her head, she felt the outside muffled of sound, the sensors locking a plate over her mouth beneath her visor as a precaution of non-breathable atmosphere. Locking the seals in place, she spoke in a grated tone thanks to the hardsuit's audio speakers. "**Distress Beacon is ready for launch.**"

"**Will the Alliance get here in time?**" She turned to address the question, seeing someone he had become both infatuated and endeared to over the course of her mission to stop Saren.

Liara T'Soni, the one hundred and ten year old Asari whose shapely blue pigmented body was obscured by the white plated scarlet Phoenix armor. Her crystal azure eyes could be seen, even past the grim flames caking machinery and flooring, painting the normally blue-grey environment in reddish-gold. Standing about eye-to-eye with her colleague, she caught sign of Kaidan in the background helping others to the escape shuttles. Despite the complications of their relationship, it was no wonder they remained close and had ran straight to her went shit hit the fan.

Refocusing herself as there was another quaking rumble shake the foundation of the Turian-Human engineered ship, Shepard saw static fill the screens of the control panel near the beacon. Flames erupted near the sleeping capsules, forcing her to grab a nearby fire extinguisher and tossed it to Liara, grabbing the spare afterwards. Putting out the flames, she tried to assure her companion help would be on the way, even if she didn't believe everything she said, **"The Alliance will come. We just need to get to the escape shuttles and get away from the Normandy!**"

"**Joker's still on the bridge!**" Liara informed her, causing the Commander to swear silently at this news. "**He won't abandon the Normandy. I won't abandon it either.**"

"**You worry about getting out of here,**" Commander Shepard ordered, her hands disposing of the used extinguisher as she pulled apart some wires to re-align the controls for the beacon. "**I'll make sure to grab Joker and get us both out of here!**"

"**But Commander-!**"

Another shudder, and Shepard had to cling to the conduit box while Liara stumbled back, almost losing her footing. The ceiling was now loose with hundreds of cables, the open veins of the Normandy on display as fires raged all around with a crescendo of blasts both distant and nearby continued spiral out of control. The death throes of the frigate was apparent, and Shepard could only look back at the Asari Researcher, almost pleadingly staring as her word spoke a firm, "**Go. Now.**"

"**...aye-aye,**" Liara whispered in a soft relenting, turning back to sprint away to the designated evacuation zone.

Shepard closed her eyes, squinting tightly before reopening them, turning to hit the button for the beacon's launch. A blaring sound of its discharge into space was heard, followed by a number of subtle rumbles as the escape shuttles were primed to depart. Knowing the only person left aboard the dying starship apart from her was Joker, she embroiled herself in a Biotic field and began to swiftly launch herself across the fiery rampart of the frigate's galley. Veering away from a blocked off, flaming staircase she heard the echoes over the intercom of Joker shouting desperately at the ship, trying to encourage it through words as it was being picked apart piece by piece.

Reaching the top of the stairwell, the door opened and the distinct sound of a suction rushed over her hard-vac suit to the greater void. Any hint of bodies that would've littered the deck from the initial blasts by the unknown attacker of their ship was launched into the black sheet of emptiness over her head. Even as she walked carefully across the eerily silent floor, pushing floating chairs away while the CIC's holographic map flickered in a violent glitching fever she could see the encompassing planet that they were on collision course for.

Passing by the support staff's original seating, she pushed herself through the kinetic barrier's envelope of the last spot of protection the ship could afford. The bridge had suffered its own damage, Joker with a discarded hat tossed aside was now wearing an emergency shielding mask so he could still pilot while not suffocating. His hands danced frantically over glitching holo-screens, his face squint up in a tense grimace in order to focus on what he was doing.

Admirable as it was, Shepard stepped in and grabbed the hem of the pilot seat, shouting at him through her helmet's speakers, "**Joker! It's time to go!**"

"**No, the Normandy isn't gone yet!**" Joker sucked air between his teeth, his posture showing refusal to back down as kept up his frantic gesticulating movements with his hands. "**I can still save her!**"

"**The Normandy is _dead_, Joker!**" Celes intoned with a firm wave of her hand, angrily shaking her head as she shook the seat to get him to look in her direction. "**Going down with the ship won't change that!**"

Stopping, Joker bowed his head, a solemn look of mourning seeming to pass over the usually audacious pilot. He was never seen as a quitter, his spotless record proved that not to mention the boundless times he aided her in her missions to stop Saren and beyond. But now wasn't the time to be proud; the time was to survive and live to fight another day.

"**Yeah...yeah okay,**" Joker sighed through his mask, trying to place pressure on the armrests to stand. "**Here, help me up.**"

Before Shepard could even get a delicate hold on the Kepral Syndrome'd man, they both heard a blaring alarm of the outline of the ship from the bridge's view-screen. Conical in shape, almost like a hybrid of organically woven rock and metal with a hole lining down the center of several partitions of the bizarre matter fused to the hull. A haunting yellow glow was seen and Shepard barely heard her pilot's warning about the enemy craft coming around for another attack.

An unheard blaring hiss shrieked across the vacuum, tearing into the open hull of the Normandy, crashing just outside of the barrier envelope protecting Joker and herself from being sucked out into the unforgiving void. Gritting her teeth, she knew it was now or never. Turning to face him, she hoped her pilot would forgive her for not being gentle.

"**Ow! Hey! Watch the arm!**" Joker protested, his mask's speakers blaring but almost deafened by the loud shearing of the ship's cockpit from the rest of the hull. Yanked by the arm, he'd have one slung over her armored shoulders and hobbled to the one escape shuttle. Had the crew not been blasted into space, it would have likely been enough to fit most of the bridge's personnel; now it was just going to fit the two of them-

A visceral crack was heard not far away from Shepard. Just as she placed Joker into the first foot of the shuttle, the whole of the Normandy began to buckle and shift, a sudden vacuum pulls her away and sends her spiraling into the wall of the cockpit. Growling, she grabbed a hold of it, feeling weightlessness take hold of her whole being as she held the wall next to the shuttle discharge switch. Looking to Joker, she'd hear a faint, "Commander!" as he'd look to be on the verge of rushing back as quickly as his creaky legs could carry him.

Glancing in the direction of the deadly beam still carrying across the flooring of the Normandy, she closed her eyes and let herself go.

"SHEPARD!" The pilot screamed, cut off from the rest of the dying vessel with a shutting of the door before being catapulted away from the smoldering wreck.

Explosions wracked the whole of the ship, Shepard doing her best to wreathe herself in a barrier of Biotics in order to prevent potential damage. Grinding molars together she closed her eyes as a flash of heat and pain struck her on all sides, right before a deafening boom detonated what was left of the space ship she was aimlessly floating in.

Ears rang, eyes opened blearily to see the raining shrapnel of the Normandy's debris showering the space around and behind her. She heard her internal hardsuit's computer blare out alarms, her eyes widening as she noticed that she wasn't being thrown across the sea of darkness among the stars; she was heading straight for the planet's atmosphere. The barrier she had was waning, and the suit that protected her from mass effect rounds, explosives and other dangerous elements wasn't designed for such an impending punishment.

Her eyes closed, teeth bared behind her helmet as she dug deep into the L3 implant inside of her, bringing out the most power she'd ever muster. Flashes of her near death on Virmire sprung to the forefront of her mind; held by the neck by Saren off the edge of a water bordered fortress, doomed to go up in nuclear flames. Another image of her scuffle against the Battlemaster that ambushed her in the Prothean Ruins she discovered Liara upon, the massive Krogan sending her flying with a single boot to the breastplate. Finally there was when Sovereign possessed the remains of the dead Saren, strangling her with its emaciated, robotic arms and staring with inhuman synthetic eyes with a fury only machines could express.

"I! Will! Not! Die!" She howled with a flash of her teeth, the flames of atmospheric entry already eating away at the cobalt light she embalmed herself with. Even as the creaking whines was heard beyond her armor's ability to sustain itself against the gravitational forces and super-heated velocity she was traveling, she refused to give in. Eyes teared up, blood rushing from the corners of her mouth, and soon she was hacking up bile within the confines of her vacuum closed rebreather mask.

"_I...won't...won't..._"

Her silhouette soon became a molten object in the sky, streaking with a shrieking whistle across the planet's expanse. During the crashes of the Normandy's remains hitting the snow covered world, Shepard found herself heading straight for a cliff side. By the time it struck, a field of red took hold of her consciousness and the fiery shards of flesh and plating planted firmly into a snowy platform, rolling over with subdued momentum till she came to a slow hissing slide.

Commander Shepard has fallen.

* * *

_"What a mess."_

Wilson Bloom could hardly think of a better way of looking at it. The recovered remains of the iconic Hero of the Citadel was nothing but a grotesque pile of flesh recovered from scrapped armor and shapes vaguely resembling a human body. Brain activity was non-existent, all organs flat lined and it was hardly a case of an ordinary person's postmortem decay. He couldn't even begin to imagine the scale of what it took to search and recover what was originally an MIA -presumed KIA by Alliance and Citadel authorities-.

"I told you this wasn't a normal operation," A cold voice spoke in that alluring tone he always was fascinated by. It was right on the cusp of attractive but stopped short, ending up being plain intimidating. He had worked with many unseemly individuals within the years he's worked for Cerberus but this woman was a true ice queen. As he looked over the sole subject of this new project, he now realized why this was concealed until his arrival at the station.

"You're not kidding," The Medical Specialist waved over at the quarantined body; separated by an observation safety window, the area within the operation center that the body was kept was incredibly pristine and decontaminated. "Anywhere else, I'd say this isn't up to my pay grade, but-"

"You're one of the best the Illusive Man has picked for this assignment," She intoned, walking slowly around to his left, keeping a handful of meters away to show her stand-offish attitude wasn't simply an assumption he made. Staring hard at the tubes injected into the carcass, mechanical arms already outfitting various things for the upcoming arduous trials they'd face for the indefinite future. "He wants this done, no matter the cost or the means. I want to be sure I can count on you to do as you're told and do nothing more."

"As long as the credit is handled out when its due."

"You're mistaking yourself, Wilson," Miranda coldly turned her face slightly to the right, a single eye glaring at him with enough intensity that he flinched at the sight of it. "I'm in charge. This is my project and you're going to help me. If you're not up to it, I'll have you replaced. Understand?"

Wilson felt a hint of a grimace was seen on his face before it was replaced by a bitter smirk. "Look who you're talking to, Miss Lawson. By the time I'm done, he'll be better than ever."

"We'll see," She dismissed, turning her head with a flip of her luscious black locks, walking away with every turn of her shapely hips.

Even as Wilson angrily leered on, he couldn't help but feel indignation rise within his chest. Turning to look back at the corpse of Shepard's, he placed an arm against the safety glass, leaning his forehead against it. Staring with determination, he formed a twisted smile on his face, speaking to himself in the silence of the observation room.

"Bitch better be thankful for what I'm going to do."

* * *

**A/N**: I finally started it. Despite all of the other stories I'm working on I couldn't help but at least lay the building blocks for my Mass Effect 2 Story. Now armed with hindsight, lore-deep insight and many-many-many player hours, I feel like I have a far better grasp of the world and story than I did when I first started my now deleted ME1 Story. This wasn't the original idea of the story and I've played many styles of Shepard through the trilogy. But now, I wanted to attempt something different that I haven't touched in-game, along with changing some things within the plot of ME2. Even though I adore the second game, it isn't perfect and I'm all for a little scrutiny into a product I enjoy.

That said, don't be too alarmed if some things are done in or out of order, or some characters behave a bit differently than portrayed in the linear script of ME2. Again, I know they were under time constraints and were limited by the amount of content they could carry over, but I have no such restriction. If you guys have your own criticisms for ME2 (or Mass Effect in general) that you'd like me to fix, change or add/subtract from the overall story. Obviously most of the bulk of the plot will still be intact: Build a Team, Suicide Mission, Loyalty Missions etc. Side quests, DLC and the like will be relegated to possibilities I do or don't do.

Anything additional...I'm up for ideas.

And without further ado, there's the end of the first Chapter of Mass Effect 2 - United We Stand. Hope to see this story be relevant enough to earn Reviews and Views, haha. See ya later!~


End file.
